The 1993 Méhaignerie Law required children born in France of foreign parents to request French nationality at adulthood, rather than being automatically accorded citizenship. This "manifestation of will" requirement was subsequently abrogated by the Guigou Law of 1998,[1] but children born in France of foreign parents remain foreign until obtaining legal majority.

Children born in France to tourists or short-term visitors do not acquire French citizenship by virtue of birth in France: residency must be proven. Since immigration became increasingly a political theme in the 1980s, albeit accompanied by a lower immigration rate (see Demographics in France), both left-wing and right-wing governments have issued several laws restricting the possibilities of being naturalized.[citation needed]

Plenary adoption is the only act of filiation which carries direct effects on nationality. Unlike the process of simple adoption, a child adopted according to the procedure of plenary adoption breaks any bond with his family of origin.[2]

Filiation must be established while the child is a minor to take effect. Consequently, the recognition of a child older than the age of majority has no effect on his or her nationality.

A child who was born abroad and who has only one French parent can repudiate his French nationality during the six months prior to his or her reaching the age of majority, or in the year which follows it (article 19-4 of the Civil Code).

A person aged 18 or above may apply for French citizenship by naturalization after five years' habitual and continuous residence in France (if married and with children, then the applicant must be living in France with his/her family).[4] In addition, it is required that the applicant has his/her primary source of income in France during the five-year period. Those applying who are not European Union, European Economic Area or Swiss nationals are required to be in possession of a "titre de séjour" (a residence permit).

The residence period may be completely waived for those who have served in the French military, for refugees, or in other exceptional cases.[5]

The residence period can be reduced to two years for a person who has completed two years of post-graduate education in France or who has rendered exceptional service to France through their talents and abilities.[5]

Naturalization will only be successful for those who are judged to have integrated into French society (i.e. by virtue of language skills and understanding of rights and responsibilities of a French citizen, to be demonstrated during an interview at the local prefecture), and who show loyalty to French institutions.

Naturalization through residency is accorded by publication of a decree in the Journal Officiel by decision of the Home Ministry and the prefecture of the region where the applicant has submitted his/her application. There is an obligatory delay of 12 months from the date of submission before the applicant is notified of the result of his/her naturalisation application.

The child (legitimate or natural) is French if born in France to at least one parent also born in France.

Simply being born in France does not confer French nationality except in the case of a child born to unknown or stateless parents, or to aliens whose nationality is not transmitted to the child.

A child born in France before January 1, 1994, to a parent born in a former French overseas territory prior to its acquisition of independence, is automatically French. The same is true for a child born after 1 January 1963, to a parent born in Algeria before July 3, 1962.

The spouse of a French national can apply for nationality, and must be able to prove that they have been married for five years and live together, (four years if the French spouse has been registered for at least four years at the Consulate General of France in New York.(article 79 of law 2006-911 published in the JO of 25/07/2006).) The applicant must also have a good knowledge of the French language, spoken and written, and the couple must appear in person together to sign documents.[6]

Foreign nationals may apply for naturalisation after three years of service in the French Foreign Legion, a wing of the French Army that is open to men of any nationality. Furthermore, a soldier wounded in battle during Legion service may immediately apply for naturalisation under the principle of "Français par le sang versé" ("French by spilled blood").[7]

According to the French Republic, the French people are those who are in possession of French nationality. According to the French Constitution, "France shall be an indivisible, secular, democratic and social Republic. It shall ensure the equality of all citizens before the law, without distinction of origin, race or religion. It shall respect all beliefs. It shall be organised on a decentralised basis." Article 1

Since the middle of the 19th century, France has exhibited a very high rate of immigration, mainly from Southern Europe, Eastern Europe, the Maghreb, Africa and Asia. According to a 2004 report by INED researcher Michèle Tribalat France has approximately 14 million persons (out of nearly 63 million) (see demographics of France) of foreign ascendancy (immigrants or with at least one parent or grandparent immigrant).

The absence of official statistics on French citizens of foreign origin is not coincidental. Under French law passed after the Vichy regime, it is forbidden to categorize people according to their ethnic origins. In France, as in many European countries, censuses do not collect information on supposed ancestry. Moreover, all French statistics are forbidden to have any references concerning ethnic membership. Thus, the French government's assimilationist stance towards immigration as well as towards regional identities and cultures, together with the political heritage of the French revolution has led to the development of a French identity which is based more on the notion of citizenship than on cultural, historical or ethnic ties.

For this reason, French identity must not necessarily be associated with the "ethnic French people", but can be associated with either a nationality and citizenship, or a culture and language-based group. The latter forms the basis for La Francophonie, a group of French-speaking countries, or countries with historical and cultural association to France. The concept of "French ethnicity" exists outside France's borders, in particular in Quebec where some people claim membership to a "French ethnic group", but here again many view it as not so much ethnicity-based as language-based, and would also include immigrants from, for example, Haiti. France's particular self-perception means that French identity may include a naturalized, French-speaking ethnic Portuguese or Algerian. Nonetheless, like in other European countries, some level of discrimination does occur, and there are higher unemployment rates among job-seekers with foreign-sounding names.

In modern France in general the rights are fundamentally the same as those in other EU countries.

Despite this official discourse of universality, French nationality has not meant automatic citizenship. Some categories of French people have been excluded, throughout the years, from full citizenship:

Women: until the Liberation, they were deprived of the right to vote. The provisional government of General de Gaulle accorded them this right by the April 21, 1944 prescription. A law passed on June 6, 2000 attempted to address the economic disparity between men and women.[8]

Military: for a long time, it was named the Grande muette ("The Big Mute") in reference to its prohibition from interfering in political life. During a large part of the Third Republic (1871–1940), the Army was in its majority anti-republican (and thus counterrevolutionary). The Dreyfus Affair and the May 16, 1877 crisis that led to a monarchistcoup d'état by MacMahon, are examples of this anti-republican spirit. Therefore, they would gain the right to vote only with the August 17, 1945 prescription: the contribution of De Gaulle to the interior French Resistance reconciled the Army with the Republic. Nevertheless, militaries do not benefit from the whole of public liberties, as the July 13, 1972 law on the general statute of militaries specify.

Young people: the July 1974 law instituted at the instigation of president Valéry Giscard d'Estaing reduced to 18 years the coming of age, which thus made of these teenagers full citizens.

Naturalized foreigners. Since January 9, 1973, foreigners who have acquired French nationality do not have to wait five years after their naturalization to be able to vote.

Visa requirements for French citizens are administrative entry restrictions by the authorities of other states placed on citizens of France. In 2014, French citizens had visa-free or visa on arrival access to 172 countries and territories, ranking the French passport 3rd in the world.[11]

According to philosopher Giorgio Agamben, France was one of the first European countries to pass denaturalisation laws, in 1915, with regard to naturalized citizens of "enemy" origins. Its example was followed by most European countries.

As soon as July 1940, Vichy France set up a special Commission charged of reviewing the naturalizations granted since the 1927 reform of the nationality law. Between June 1940 and August 1944, 15,000 persons, mostly Jews, were denaturalized.[13] This bureaucratic decision was instrumental in their subsequent internment.

As Bill Clinton finished his second term as President of the U.S. (the legal limit of terms under the U.S. Constitution), a theory was published by CNN that he could claim citizenship of France and run for leadership there.[14] The open-letter by historian Patrick Weil held that a little known “law, passed in 1961 [article 21-19(5º)], enables people from former French territories to apply for immediate naturalisation, bypassing the normal five-year residency requirement for would-be French citizens.”[14] As Clinton was born in Arkansas which had been part of French Louisiana before it was sold to the US, it was held that he would qualify under this law. And as a naturalised French citizen, he could run in the French presidential election.

Clinton himself later repeated this claim in 2012 as an amusing thought when speaking to an interviewer.[15] Clinton had always dismissed the idea, and at the time of his retelling of the story in 2012, unknown to him, the possibility had already ended. This was because article 21-19(5º) of the Code civil was repealed (by article 82 of law 2006-911) on July 25, 2006 under the direction of Nicolas Sarkozy, who was then Minister of the Interior. Since "Weil's article made this provision of the French nationality law notorious, the French parliament abolished it".[16][17]

GISTI ("Groupe d'Information et de Soutien aux Travailleurs Immigrés" (same: "Group of Information and Support of Immigrants Workers", although they also carry more directly activist actions, such as blocking controversial expelling by charter, mainly by informing all passengers of the plane: as the pilot is the only authority on board, he may refuse to embark an illegal alien, thus blocking police's attempts)